


The Vegas Thing

by andromedagalaxy



Series: Philkas College Verse [51]
Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 14:41:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13483626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andromedagalaxy/pseuds/andromedagalaxy
Summary: Philip’s head has never felt so heavy.He wants to open his eyes but he can’t, not yet, because he can tell the whole world is way too bright for his addled head right now. He tries to catalogue everything he can with his eyes still closed.He’s definitely laying on top of Lukas because he’s moving up and down with the rise and fall of his chest. Philip can hear him breathing through his mouth.They’re definitely on the ground because he can feel his knees on the carpet on either side of Lukas’s body.He pops one eye open. They’re right next to a balcony, the sliding glass door closed but still showcasing the view of Las Vegas from on high. It’s clearly morning, the sparkling city shining in the sun.They’re supposed to be here. Vegas. Philip knows that much. He had that wedding job, his biggest job to date, and it had gone beyond his expectations. Lukas had seemed so proud, looking at him like he was all the stars in the sky and then some, and they had to celebrate.Philip groans a little bit, his heart starting its death march. He sits up, his whole body aching, still straddling Lukas as he looks around.This is not their hotel.





	The Vegas Thing

Philip’s head has never felt so heavy.

He wants to open his eyes but he can’t, not yet, because he can tell the whole world is way too bright for his addled head right now. He tries to catalogue everything he can with his eyes still closed. 

He’s definitely laying on top of Lukas because he’s moving up and down with the rise and fall of his chest. Philip can hear him breathing through his mouth.

They’re definitely on the ground because he can feel his knees on the carpet on either side of Lukas’s body. 

He pops one eye open. They’re right next to a balcony, the sliding glass door closed but still showcasing the view of Las Vegas from on high. It’s clearly morning, the sparkling city shining in the sun.

They’re supposed to be here. Vegas. Philip knows that much. He had that wedding job, his biggest job to date, and it had gone beyond his expectations. Lukas had seemed so proud, looking at him like he was all the stars in the sky and then some, and they had to celebrate.

Philip groans a little bit, his heart starting its death march. He sits up, his whole body aching, still straddling Lukas as he looks around. 

This is not their hotel.

They were staying in a cheap little place down the strip, a little one bedroom closet that Philip had picked out so they’d have money left over for dinner and souvenirs. 

This place is not that place. This place is so far from that place that he’s sure his head is gonna start spinning if he thinks about it too hard. He covers his mouth as he looks around because the shock is almost enough much to kill him, his whole body tensing up as he realizes the insanity of their situation.

Everything is fucking golden. To the carpets to the bar to the goddamn staircase and Philip realizes that having a staircase in their room instantly means there’s a second floor _to their room_ and he’s plummeting full-fledged into panic mode. He swings one leg off Lukas and shudders to his feet, his knees cracking and his back right behind them. He’s thankful that the place doesn’t look trashed, not at all—there are multiple plates of food on the long table, mostly eaten but some bits and pieces left behind. He doesn’t take the time to look at what they were eating because something else draws his eye, a picture framed down at the end of the table. 

It’s a picture of him and Lukas standing under an arch of white flowers. They’re clinging to each other, smiling in each other’s faces, and Lukas is wearing a red ring-pop on his finger. Philip stares at it for a few seconds, the gears working in his head, and he looks down at his own hand. There’s the remains of a ring-pop there, blue in its previous life, and mostly eaten. 

Philip’s heart beats in his throat. He looks back and forth between the picture and his hand. His mind is blank, left in the dust, unable to process whatever the fuck is going on. He looks over his shoulder at Lukas—his brows are furrowed now, like he knows Philip is gone and he isn’t happy about it. 

There’s a mostly eaten ring-pop on his finger, too. The same red one from the picture.

They’re both still wearing their engagement rings, just underneath the fucking ring pops, which makes Philip realize that they’d moved them to their left hands. He looks at the picture again. It’s cute as fuck and he loves it, but he can’t get distracted by that right now. It looks a lot like a wedding photo. The ring pops. The flowers. His brain short-circuits, a bunch of small alarms going off in his head. He can’t be that guy that got accidentally married in Vegas. He can’t be. They can’t be that couple. There’s no way they did this. 

Except he looks around at his surroundings. This hotel is a prime example that they did some shit that they weren’t supposed to do. He can’t even imagine how they managed it and he’s ready to freak out just thinking of the possibilities. He starts walking in the direction of the bedroom because he’s worried they somehow fucking wound up in someone else’s room. He pads down the hallway and stops briefly to look down and inspect his ribcage. He pulls his shirt up and isn’t surprised to find about ten hickeys there. He scoffs, shaking his head as he keeps walking, and when he walks into the bedroom he’s happy to see that it’s empty—their bags are here, and the bed is all rumpled like they slept here at some point. 

This place is gorgeous and he can’t even enjoy it because he doesn’t know how the fuck he paid for it. 

He has to wake Lukas up so they can investigate this shit. They could be married. _They could be married._ He doesn’t think about it too hard because he starts to malfunction every time he does. He walks back out into the living room (fuck) and notices their phones are plugged into the wall over by the TV. _Thank God._ He moves towards the sliding glass door and kneels next to Lukas, touching his cheek.

“Lukas,” he whispers. “Lukas, wake up.”

Lukas groans a little bit, grimacing. “What?” he asks, eyes still closed.

“We did something stupid,” Philip says. “Well, more than one thing, definitely.”

Lukas groans again. “What else is new?”

Philip doesn’t wanna laugh because he’s really panicky but one escapes anyway and he sighs, stretching out a little bit next to Lukas, shaking his face again, trying to rattle him into a more cognizant form of wakefulness. “This may—be like, near the top of the dumb shit we’ve done,” he says. “Like, covering up a murder tops.”

Lukas’s hand travels down and covers his stomach and he winces, his eyes opening. “Something…” He pulls up his shirt and Philip’s breath catches in his throat.

Lukas yelps, his eyes wide.

His fucking belly button.

Is pierced.

“What is happening?!” Lukas yells, framing it with his hands. Philip just stares. It’s small, silver, and definitely, definitely there. Lukas’s belly button is pierced. Philip keeps staring. Lukas smacks Philip’s knee and Philip gasps, startled, because for a moment the whole world was nothing but the fact that _Lukas’s fucking belly button is pierced._

“Philip!”

Philip doesn’t have a voice.

“Oh my God where did I get this done?” Lukas asks, still palming at it without touching the little stud there. “What if the needle wasn’t sterile?”

Philip chews on his lower lip, watching the way Lukas’s stomach contracts as he cranes his neck to look, like he’s too afraid to actually sit up. Philip doesn’t know how the hell he was laying on him. It must have hurt.

“Philip! I could get an infection! Say something!”

“There are so many things…happening all at once,” Philip says in a rush of breath.

“Okay,” Lukas says, his head hitting the carpet again. He pulls his shirt down and covers his face with his hands, and Philip tries to get back on track.

Belly button pierced.

_No!_

“Okay,” Lukas says again. “Things are. Okay. We did the Vegas thing.”

“Yes,” Philip agrees. 

“I got my belly button pierced. Hopefully in a—reputable—establishment.”

Philip snorts, shaking his head.

“We really. We really did the thing. The blackout Vegas thing. I can’t believe it.”

“Me either,” Philip says. He tries not to be embarrassed. He tries to keep his thoughts in order. He needs to tell Lukas about the other thing. “Uh,” he says, clearing his throat. “Look at your, uh—look at the—”

“This is definitely not our hotel,” Lukas groans. “We are….someplace else.”

“Yes,” Philip says, his heart beating a little faster. “No idea—Jesus, we should probably check our bank accounts. I’m fucking terrified to even pick up my phone but we probably—should.”

Lukas groans. He throws his hands out to the side and pouts at Philip. 

Philip tries again. “Uh. Do you notice what you have on your left hand?”

Lukas furrows his brows and holds his hand up. He hums a little bit. “Moved my engagement ring,” he muses. Then he reaches up and touches what’s left of the ring pop. “What’s…”

Philip holds up his hand and points to his own. 

Now Lukas is the one that’s staring. “We both have ring pops?” he asks. 

There are way too many thoughts and emotions running through Philip’s head and he definitely has a hangover, his whole body absolutely throbbing. He gets up, walks over to the dining room table with purpose, picks up the framed photo and walks back over, sitting down again. He hands it to Lukas, who takes it tentatively, looking more and more confused. He stares at the picture like he’s reading some ancient text, his eyes darting back and forth and tracing over every inch of it. It feels like a lifetime passes.

Then Lukas looks at him.

“Did we get married?”

The way he says it. It’s so soft, questioning, but not angry, not scared. Simmering excitement, incredulity but hopefulness. His eyes are sparkling and every time Philip thinks he couldn’t be more in love with him Lukas goes and proves him wrong.

“Did we?” Lukas asks again, before Philip can say anything. The corner of his mouth is tugging up into a smile and Philip smiles too, dipping his head down. 

“We can’t be excited about this,” Philip laughs. “We’re gonna—we’re supposed to have a wedding—”

“We still can—”

“Helen’s gonna be pissed—”

“So??”

“Even your dad might be pissed—”

“Listen, I don’t—”

“I mean, we could get it annulled—”

Lukas smacks his leg, putting the framed photo aside dramatically. “The fuck? Annulled? You’d annul our marriage?”

Everything is happening so much. “It might not even—maybe we just took a cute picture somewhere. I mean, we were at a wedding. This could be—”

“Nope,” Lukas says, sitting up, wincing a little bit.

_Belly button ring._

Philip needs to focus.

“Nope,” Lukas says again. “I remember every bit of the Jones wedding and we didn’t take any pictures together there save for those few selfies in front of the chocolate fountain.”

Philip definitely remembers the fountain. He tries to trace the wisps of memory back, and when he shifts a little bit his knee bumps into Lukas’s. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asks, trying to focus and stay calm. Trying to not think about Lukas’s pierced belly button at all.

Lukas looks off past Philip and chews on his lower lip, the worry line presenting itself between his brows again. “Um. Um—the bar. With that elephant statue.”

“Yes!” Philip says, pointing at him. “The bar in the Mandarin Oriental. Maybe that’s where we are?”

“There has to be some kinda proof of that somewhere,” Lukas says. “Like, printed on cup or some toilet paper or some shit.”

Philip sighs, figuring they need to look around for that too. Or maybe they’ll just figure it out when they’re finally outside. “Okay. Backtracking. We were at the bar in the middle, close to the band and the card table—”

“Yes,” Lukas says. “And the elephant statue.”

“Is that all you remember?” Philip asks, glaring at him.

Lukas covers his face with his hands again. “Please come closer and hug me,” he groans. “I’m freaking out.”

Philip doesn’t waste time giving in to his request, wrapping his arms around Lukas’s frame and kissing the top of his head. Lukas burrows into Philip’s chest and holds him tight, groaning again. This whole thing would be funny if he could fucking remember what the hell happened. He hopes it was nothing serious, like they were drugged or some shit. But there isn’t a trace of anybody else around. And he feels like he’d know, if it was something like that. He just feels the familiar traces of Lukas all over him. A darkened memory that they definitely struggled through together.

“We gotta figure out how we got into this hotel,” Philip says. “And got our—shit here. We obviously came here with like, a purpose. Like we brought all of our stuff with us. So we like, meant to come here. It wasn’t an accident.”

“Our bags are here?” Lukas asks.

“Yeah,” Philip says. 

“And no one else is here?” Lukas asks. 

“Well, I don’t know,” Philip says, glancing up. “There’s a whole fucking second story to our _room_ so…”

Lukas sighs and pulls back. “Okay. We gotta investigate.”

~

They go over the first floor first. They figure out it is, indeed, the Mandarin Oriental. There’s a full kitchen, a living room, a dining room, _another living room_ , an office, a huge bathroom with a goddamn hot tub in it. On the second floor there’s a game room and a whole balcony with a mini-pool in it and with every step they take Philip wonders what kind of overdrafts their accounts are going to suffer.

“We could have used the credit card,” Lukas says, tip-toeing around like he’s still expecting to find someone else here, though Philip has pretty much decided that they’re alone. 

“I completely forgot we even had the credit card until you just mentioned it,” Philip says, looking up at him. “So if your drunk-ass self managed to remember that then I’m extra proud of you.”

Lukas sighs. Philip steps a little ahead of him, peeking into another goddamn bedroom. 

“This place is like,” Philip says, clicking his tongue. He can’t think of adjectives that are good enough. “I thought the place we stayed in in Chicago was big. This is like—gigantic. Insane. I can’t imagine what it costs. I don’t even wanna look. I bet we’re gonna be—ugh.” He covers his face with his hands. He’s terrified to look at their bank accounts. They haven’t even looked at their phones yet. Philip is definitely a drunk texter. He wonders if he told Helen and Gabe anything stupid. Gabe definitely doesn’t need to deal with any of this shit—he’s still recovering and Philip will probably want to crawl in a hole and die if he’s been bothering Gabe with all their ridiculous bullshit.

He sees something move in the bedroom. 

“Lukas,” he hisses, tensing up. “Did you see that?”

“What?” Lukas asks, crouching a little bit now. “You saw something?”

“You didn’t?” Philip asks. He reaches out and slaps the wall inside the room, letting his hand climb until he finds the light switch. He quickly flips it on. 

“Hello?” Lukas says, loudly but still with a noticeable waver, and Philip knows this entire situation is pretty dire, even more dire now that there’s some random thing or person or whatever moving in this fourth bedroom, but he has a hard time keeping himself from laughing.

And then, as if reacting to Lukas’s strange greeting, a tiny puppy trots out from behind the bed and plops down, sitting and panting at them. 

Philip stares.

And stares and stares.

“Who is that?” Lukas asks, like it’s a person sitting there that’s yet to introduce himself. 

The puppy looks back and forth between them. His markings are a lot like Izzy’s but he’s much smaller than her, like maybe he has some corgi in him along with Australian shepherd. But his colors are so similar to Izzy’s that Philip is a little freaked out by it. 

“There’s a dog here,” Lukas says. “We stole a dog. We _stole_ a dog.”

“We didn’t steal a dog.”

“We stole a dog.”

“We _probably_ did not steal a dog.”

The dog barks at them and it’s one of the most adorable little yips that Philip nearly melts on the spot. 

“Oh my God, it’s so cute,” Lukas coos. “Look at his little eyes!”

“Lukas,” Philip says, closing his eyes. “Of course he’s cute, he’s a puppy—but fuck, we can’t—where did he come from? Shit, oh my god—”

Lukas walks past him and straight to the puppy, gathering him up in his arms. The puppy starts licking Lukas’s face immediately and Philip is getting way too distracted by how cute the image is. Lukas laughs, walking a little further into the room and around the bed where the puppy came from. “Hey!” he says.

“What?” Philip says, his heart beating faster. “There aren’t more dogs, right? Please say there aren’t more.” The first time he’s asked for less dogs.

“No,” Lukas says, draping the puppy over his shoulder as he bends down. “A bed and toys and a bag full of food.”

Philip narrows his eyes. “That doesn’t make sense. That seems like—”

“Maybe we adopted him?” Lukas asks, not looking at Philip, seemingly shifting through the bags he’s found on the other side of the bed. “Oh. Yeah.”

“What?” Philip asks, walking over. The puppy lunges a little bit when he gets close and Philip can’t resist reaching out and rubbing his head. He’s so damn cute. Lukas is holding a piece of paper and it doesn’t look like any complicated contract, just simply says _SAMSON WAS ADOPTED BY PHILIP SHEA AND LUKAS WALDENBECK ON THIS DAY FROM CAMBURN CHAPEL_ with yesterday’s date next to it.

They both stare at it. The events of their night are slowly forming in Philip’s mind, still fuzzy and unintelligible but becoming more and more real with each passing moment. They did things that are going to change their lives forever. They got married and adopted another dog. 

Lukas is giving him a look. That kind of look where he’s satisfied with himself and all his love is scrawled across his face. He’s petting Samson, who looks satisfied with himself too. 

“Lukas,” Philip says. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“What?”

“You got your belly button pierced.”

Lukas scoffs, rolling his eyes. 

“We clearly—we clearly spent money on this puppy here. Adopting another dog like…drunk…fucking…lunatics. And if we—if we—” He blushes a little bit because right now it still feels like an idea, like some strange fever dream, and he doesn’t believe it yet. He doesn’t know what the hell would make him believe it. That picture isn’t proof but it’s on the road to being proof. He blushes so hard his face burns and he sighs. “If we got married—it definitely cost money. And this hotel room—is ridiculously huge—and if we did put the credit card on file, the limit is probably not high enough—fuck, we’re probably gonna have to go to fucking jail if we can’t pay for this hotel, Lukas. We’re gonna have to go to jail and we have a goddamn puppy here in our care and we’re gonna go to _jail_ —”

“Hey,” Lukas says. He puts Samson on the floor and Philip looks down, watching the puppy tromp back over to his bed and flop down in it. Lukas pulls Philip in and presses a long kiss to his cheek, rubbing his back. “It’s gonna be fine. It’s all gonna be fine. We’re gonna get through it together. And…if we—if we are—”

“Married,” Philip says, into Lukas’s shoulder. 

“Then that’s—that’s something—fuck, Philip, that’s everything.”

A rush of warmth floods through Philip’s veins. “Let’s not—get attached to it right yet,” Philip says, pulling back a little bit. He takes Lukas’s face in his hands and kisses him hard—he always finds solace in his mouth and his hands and the vibrancy of his every move.

~

They bring Samson downstairs into the living room and Philip is a little in love with him already. He reads over the paper a hundred times and looks at the stamp from Camburn Chapel. It looks official enough. 

“Okay so I did have a conversation with Helen and Gabe in our chat,” Philip says, scrolling up the messages as his heart races. “Wow. Wow, I’m really proud of me.”

“Me too, but why?” Lukas asks, looking up from his own phone. 

“It’s clear I’m drunk but my typos are few and far between.” The conversation isn’t anything special. He’s just telling them about the wedding job and asking about Gabe and lying about being drunk. He was the one who ended the conversation with about a hundred emojis, which is probably a tip-off to them that he was less than sober. “Okay,” Philip says, looking up at Lukas. “This is gonna be…a secret. For now,” he says. “Okay?”

“Probably a good idea,” Lukas says. “Also a good thing—no hotel money is gone from either of our accounts.”

Philip’s gaze snaps up again. “What? _What_?”

Lukas shrugs at him. “Checked the credit card too. Nothing.”

Philip stares at him for what feels like a lifetime. 

“Philip?”

“Sorry,” Philip says, clutching his phone so hard he feels like he’s gonna break it. “I’m just. I can’t think. How the fuck are we in here?”

“Maybe we just put a card on file and they didn’t charge yet?” Lukas says. “I do have the charge for the one night at the other hotel, which sucks, since we didn’t fucking stay there. But there’s also nothing from the chapel, no, like—big charge, like for a wedding, nothing for Samson either.”

The world is completely off it’s goddamn hinges. “That—that doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know,” Lukas says. “I don’t know.”

Philip blows out a breath. “Babe, can you do something for me real quick?” 

“Yeah.”

“Can you call the other hotel and see if we cancelled with them for tonight, and then make sure our flight is still in place for tomorrow?”

“You think we got this place for two nights?” Lukas asks, eyes wide. “That’s probably our entire savings.”

Philip glances down at his half-typed message again and tries to keep himself straight. “Just. See…and we’ll have to talk to this hotel after we figure out the whole wedding and Samson thing. Eventually. When we leave.” He glances over and sees Samson drinking out of his water bowl in the kitchen. “And uh—do we have to tell the airport we have a dog now? Fuck.”

“We have a carrier, he’ll be my carry-on,” Lukas says. Philip doesn’t know if that’s good enough, but Lukas blows a kiss in his direction. “I’ll see what they say.”

“Thank you,” Philip says. He continues typing his message to Helen and Gabe. _Hey guys! Vegas has been fun so far, but we’re being good :) can’t wait for you to see all my pictures from the wedding. What do you guys have planned for today? We’re probably just gonna take it easy, hang out at the hotel. Nothing fancy!_

~

They rush down the sidewalk towards the Chapel, Samson in Lukas’s arms. Thankfully, their flight wasn’t cancelled in a fit of drunken stupidness. Unthankfully, they cancelled their entire stay at the old hotel, which means they probably booked a second night at the goddamn Mandarin Oriental. They’re avoiding the shit out of the front desk, and as they left they forced themselves into a big group of tourists so no one would see them. They hung a do not disturb sign on their door.

“Jesus Christ how the hell were we getting around,” Lukas mutters, looking at his surroundings. “Our other hotel was like—not close to here at all.”

Philip clicks his tongue. He still can’t believe this. He’s embarrassed and annoyed and freaked out and he can’t stop thinking about that fucking belly button ring. “Did you have a charge for your new piercing?” he asks, trying not to smile. 

Lukas shoots him a glare. “Yes,” he says. 

“Really?” Philip asks. “Where?”

“We passed it already,” Lukas says. 

“Why didn’t you say something?” Philip asks, glancing around behind him, like maybe they still might be close enough for him to see it. “We could have gone in there and seen what they had to say, maybe they could have filled in some gaps.”

Lukas grimaces. “I think we basically know what went down there.”

Philip snorts. “So you’re not worried about getting an infection?”

Lukas shakes his head. “No, they have good reviews.”

Philip moves to catch up with him, matching his stride. “Maybe I kind of like it?” he says. 

The expression on Lukas’s face then is a lot more open and amiable. “Oh yeah? As if I couldn’t tell.”

Philip holds his chin high. “I’m good at veiling my feelings.”

“Yeah right,” Lukas says, scratching Samson’s back. 

“Oh and you are?” Philip asks, as they weave around a group of very sharply dressed girls.

“No,” Lukas says. “I never said that.” Samson throws his head back and starts licking Lukas’s chin, which makes him laugh. “How do you think Izzy is gonna deal with this one encroaching on her territory?” 

Philip grits his teeth and shakes his head. “I have no idea.” He pauses, watching his adorable fiancé (husband? _Husband?_ ) and their adorable puppy. “I can’t believe we just—we just adopted a dog. From a chapel? Why are they adopting dogs out of a chapel? Two for one, marriage and a puppy?”

“Don’t act like that’s not your best night ever,” Lukas says, stopping at the crosswalk and waiting with the rest of the group of people.

“Yeah,” Philip says. “If only I could remember it.”

Lukas nudges into him a little bit, watching the light change. Philip stares at him, his breath catching a little bit. Are they really goddamn married? He can’t believe they’re gonna find out soon. It sorta feels like there’s a divide on the horizon, a strange wall between Now and After. He can’t believe they got drunk like this, became another hit on Vegas’s list of clichés. 

Philip doesn’t know what to think.

~

It’s clear they’re in the right place by how they’re greeted as soon as they walk into the Chapel. There’s a pretty blonde girl behind the front counter and her face lights up when she sees them—she quickly moves from her post, looking like she’s eager to do ten things at once but unsure how to approach it. “Guys!” she yells, throwing the word over her shoulder. “The boys are back!”

“The boys?” Philip mutters to Lukas, both of them plastering on smiles. 

The girl walks straight up to them and wraps them in big, familiar hugs, patting Samson on the head and falling into a form of babytalk that Philip hasn’t ever really heard before. “How’s he doing?” the girl asks. “Does he still remind you of your Izzy?”

Philip hates being in the dark like this. He doesn’t remember this girl at all and he has no goddamn idea what they said to her. It’s incredibly surreal, knowing that they know them but they don’t _know them._

“Maybe that’s why we picked him?” Lukas mutters. “Looks like Izzy?”

“That’s what you kept saying,” the girl says, and when Philip looks down he sees she has a name tag on that reads HANNAH. “Aw, look,” she says, clicking her tongue as she gazes down at their hands. “Still wearing your ring pops.”

“Yup,” Lukas says, holding his hand up, and Philip realizes they probably need to take them off when they get back to the hotel. “You guys—always use these, huh?” Lukas asks.

Philip follows his line of sight and sees a big bowl of them on the counter. 

“Good placeholders,” Hannah says, grinning at them.

Philip wonders how many drunk people get married here. He wonders if there’s some kind of law against it. He wonders if they even knew they were drunk. They had to have known. Philip knows how he is when he’s drunk and he isn’t exactly subtle.

A older couple walks out from behind the lacy curtain, and their faces light up when they see Philip and Lukas.

“Ah, now!” the woman says. “Don’t let Lady see her prodigal pup returning or she’ll try to steal him back from you!”

Lukas laughs as they exchange hugs and the man claps Philip on the shoulders a few times, winking at him from behind wire-rimmed glasses. Philip feels weirdly shy, like he’s being hit with a jolt of stage-fright, and he can feel Lukas vibrating with the intent to do something and say something or maybe freak the hell out. Philip isn’t sure which one.

“So we were maybe…a little out of it last night,” Lukas says, making a weird face when Philip looks up at him.

“You sure were,” the man says, raising his eyebrows. “You left your entire package behind!”

Philip doesn’t even know what that means. 

“Come on, boys,” the woman says, and Hannah looks at them happily as they follow along. The chapel is very modest looking, small but decorative in the lobby, very white and charismatic in the main room. They walk in and see all the pews, the altar at the end and the flowery arch that he has in the photo. _Fuck fuck fuck_. Samson seems to get more excited with every step they take and Philip’s mind is tearing from one eternity to the next. He catches sight of a big poster of the three people they’re walking with on the wall behind him, and in letters just big enough for him to read: _NANCY, BILL AND HANNAH IN FRONT OF CAMBURN CHAPEL OPENING DAY._

Good to know. Names.

They follow them down the aisle and through a little back door, and Philip tries not to think about where they are, what they might have done here last night, what might be proven in just a few minutes. He can’t really function the way he wants. Too many emotions and feelings at the same damn time. 

They file into the office and Nancy laughs, clapping her hands. 

“Yours was one of our favorites,” she says, walking over to the little desk. Philip’s heart is raging in his chest and he sees Lukas put Samson down out of the corner of his eye, the puppy sitting nicely on top of Lukas’s right foot. There are a bunch of pictures of happy couples on the wall, tacked onto bulletin boards and a few particularly good ones framed and highlighted. 

“Pretty funny,” Lukas says, getting Philip’s attention, “that we, uh—you know, got married and adopted a puppy at the same time. Weird, right? I mean—” He laughs. “How many other people do that?”

Nancy and Bill look at each other and laugh, then back at them again. Hannah moves over to the desk and opens up the top drawer.

“Well, you came at the right time,” Nancy says, beaming. “We adopted Lady preggers and were hopin’ to adopt out all the pups to good people, mostly friends and the like. You two were cryin’ over Samson and kept sayin’ he looked like your own pup, so we thought it was a good fit. Usually we do a little bit more background on people, but you two, well—we could tell you were real sweet.”

Philip looks down, sees Samson look up happily at him. He can’t help but smile.

“Here it is,” Hannah says, pulling out a small box. Both he and Lukas draw in a collective breath and Lukas reaches out, taking the box and holding it out in front of them. It has elaborate twirls and curly-q’s on the front, birds and flowers and just about every cliché romantic thing Philip can think of adorning every shred of space on the cover. Lukas opens it and the first thing they see is a picture of them in front of the arch again, this time putting the ring pops on each other’s fingers.

Philip feels his stomach drop. 

“Everything’s in there,” Nancy says. “Helped you get your license at the Bureau, that’s in there, everything signed by us and your witnesses, all the pictures and souvenirs, your DVD and flash drive with the wedding video—”

Lukas is gripping Philip’s shoulder tight with his free hand and Samson barks at them. “Thank you,” Lukas says, nodding. “Can’t believe we left this behind.”

They both smile a little too knowingly. “Well, you two were distracted.”

“All that cash—”

Philip blinks, shaking his head. “Cash? We—we had—”

The three of them laugh and shake their heads. “They were a little tipsy, weren’t they?” Nancy says, sounding like she knows better. 

“You won big at the tables,” Hannah says, grinning. “What did they have, Mom? Wasn’t it like—”

“More than three thousand,” Bill says, and Nancy agrees.

Another fifteen alarms go off in Philip’s head. 

“Wow, wow,” Lukas says. “Wow, yeah—wow, yeah, we did—yeah, we did. We had that, we did that. That’s how we paid.”

“Definitely had some left over, though,” Nancy says, winking. “We have very good prices, and we struck a deal on your new baby there.”

“Wow,” Philip says, echoing Lukas’s sentiments, his voice breaking. “Wow, we were—we were really distracted.”

“By everything,” Bill says, laughing. 

“By the car!” Hannah says, and they all laugh.

“Everyone loves our impala,” Bill says, looking proud. “You said you wanted one of your own.

“Kept talking about Lukas’s bike,” Nancy says. “How Izzy can’t go on big trips unless you strap her to the front of it.”

“Jesus,” Lukas says, trying not to smile.

Philip laughs a little awkwardly. There’s so much information. So many things. Happening. So much being filled in. He can’t keep it straight. “Uh—oh man, so crazy how much you drove us around,” he tries, still thinking about the phrase _thousands of dollars_. He feels like such an idiot. Where the fuck is it? Where is that money?

“To the bureau, from one hotel to the next—”

“Oh!” Philip says, happy to hear that. “That was so nice of you.”

“Sorry you had to wait around,” Nancy says. “But you were having a good time with Samson there while the other weddings were going on.”

“Did we mention why we switched hotels?” Lukas says, fast. 

Nancy and Bill look at each other, then at Hannah, and they all shake their heads. “No, dear. You two were having a wonderful time, we figured you just wanted to be somewhere nicer after the wedding.”

~

The wedding.

The _wedding._

Philip clutches their box of memories against his chest and walks in a haze of shock next to Lukas, Samson trotting out ahead of them happily on his new leash, his tail held high.

“I don’t even know what to do first when we get to the hotel,” Philip says, sounding half-deadpan. “Watch this video or look for the money.”

“Fuck,” Lukas whispers. “Fuck, uh—video. Then money. But we don’t even know how much money we’re fucking looking for.”

Philip just. Can’t.

“Maybe we paid for the hotel with the cash?” Lukas asks. 

“You think we won that much cash? Enough for two nights in that hotel?”

“Maybe,” Lukas says, shrugging. 

“I wonder if you got your belly button pierced before or after we went to the chapel,” Philip says.

Lukas snorts, really loudly, and Philip smiles a little bit. Lukas brings the world back into focus, without fail. This feels like a first date. It feels like new. It feels like everything is heavy and banging on a door in Philip’s mind, ready to burst forth and present itself in a way he doesn’t know how to deal with.

Lukas nudges into Philip a little bit. Philip nudges him back.

~

They avoid the front desk again, ducking behind a giant rose plant thing when the girl behind the counter looks up. They take off the ring pops and leave them on the counter, then they open up Lukas’s laptop, skidding to a halt on the couch. Samson rushes over to his food bowl, and Philip briefly spares a moment wondering how they’re gonna pack all this new shit for the plane. They put the laptop on the coffee table, and Philip can’t believe what they’re gonna be seeing any second now.

They don’t look through the rest of the box of memories, eager to get to the video, though Philip gets a brief look at a picture of them kissing. Lukas struggles with the flash drive, stabbing it into the side of the laptop like four times before Philip covers his hand with his own, eliciting a little breathless laugh. The air is charged between them and it’s a strange sense of knowing and not knowing, uncertainty on the eve of being proved certain. They had the words, sure, but they were from three people that were essentially strangers to them. Now they’re gonna see it. And it won’t be a dream.

Samson turns around in a couple circles and flops down next to his bowl, huffing out a sigh.

Philip plugs in the flash drive.

The folder window pops up immediately and Philip clicks on it, watching the media player open.

The first image in the video is of their backs and then Philip realizes that they were walking down the aisle. They were holding hands and swaying towards each other, giggling, and they both turned and looked at each other as they went, grins splitting across their faces.

Philip snorts. “Oh my fucking god.”

“We are so obviously drunk. They had to have known.”

“I guess half their cliental are drunk couples,” Philip says, laughing and scooting a little closer to Lukas.

The video goes on. They made their way down the aisle like they were walking through sleet, and Nancy waited at the end of it for them, looking not at all perturbed by their slowness. Hannah and Bill were sitting in the pews, a few other people Philip doesn’t recognize sitting in the back. The shot switched and then they have a better angle of themselves, closer. Lukas snorted, leaning forward and bracing his forehead on Philip’s shoulder. 

_“What?”_ Philip on the screen laughed, smearing an off-center kiss to Lukas’s head.

_“So cute,”_ Lukas muttered to him. _“Ridiculous. Ridiculouso.”_

Philip’s face hurts from smiling. “Oh my god, listen to you.”

“I’m trying to speak Spanish,” Lukas says, shaking his head.

“You’re gonna have to take more classes,” Philip says, gazing up at him.

Nancy gave some introductions. _“You two said you have your own vows?”_

Philip’s brow furrows as he watches Lukas on the screen straighten up, the two of them nodding at each other, smiling almost manically. 

“Uh,” he laughs, and Lukas looks at him now, raising an eyebrow. “We came up with our own fucking vows shit drunk?”

“I somehow doubt it’s gonna be anything special,” Lukas says, and he looks worried.

_“Philip Shea,”_ Lukas said, without responding to Nancy at all. _“You are the light between the trees. The colors reflecting off the water on the streets after it rains. You are all the high notes that sing—in my ears. You’re shining and incredible and you’re—mine.”_

“That was pretty good but I could see it crumbling,” Lukas says, and Philip snorts, his vision getting a little blurry. He kisses Lukas’s shoulder and rests his chin there.

_“Yeah?”_ Philip said. _“Yours?”_

_“Mine mine mine.”_

They looked like they were about to kiss but Nancy clicked her tongue, laughing and pushing them apart. They grinned at each other again, making the dumbest fucking faces Philip has ever seen. He can’t believe they actually look like this. 

_“Philip,”_ Lukas whispered.

Philip leaned in close, blinking at him. _”Yes?”_

_“We. Are. Getting Married.”_

Lukas is blushing hard and Philip kisses his shoulder again. He’s the cutest fucking thing and Philip couldn’t love him more.

_“Yes,”_ Philip said. _“Yes.”_

_“Okay. Good.”_

Lukas laughs outright, shaking his head. “I guess I wasn’t sure,” he says, his body shaking with his laughter.

_“Lukas,”_ Philip said, squeezing his hands. _“You are the love of my life. I wanna marry you all the time. I’ll still—wanna marry you after I marry you.”_

_“Hell yeah, baby.”_

They both laughed, swaying again, looking like they’re gonna goddamn fall over.

_“But I—I’m gonna be cool for you forever,”_ Philip continued. _“Always, always I’m gonna take care of you.”_

Philip wipes at his eyes. “Jesus,” he says.

Hannah walked up then and handed them the stupid ring pops, half in and half out of their plastic. Lukas licked his own and then licked Philip’s, and then licked Philip’s entire palm. 

Philip feels his chest warming as he watches, and it’s weird because they don’t have a whole lot of videos of themselves. This feels like the first time since he woke up this morning that he’s calm, that he feels completely happy and nothing else. He’s watching their love unfold in front of him, and it’s so weird and surreal and strangely, strangely right. 

_“By the power vested in me,”_ Nancy said, and Lukas widened his eyes at Philip, reaching up and touching his face briefly, letting him lick his ring pop. 

“I can almost still taste it,” Lukas laughs, leaning his head on Philip’s.

Philip grins so hard his face hurts. Lukas reaches over and threads their hands together in Philip’s lap, rubbing his thumb back and forth. 

“Look at you,” Lukas says. “In that jacket. “No wonder I married you.”

_“I now pronounce you married. Lukas, Philip, you may kiss your husband.”_

Philip gasps a little bit like he didn’t know what was coming and he feels Lukas squeeze his hand, stretching forward a little bit as they watch themselves kiss. They laughed into each other’s mouths on the screen and stumbled against each other, Lukas grabbing Philip by the waist and pulling him flush against him until they both stumbled backwards. They knocked over a large vase full of tall flowers, toppling down after it until they’re out of the frame.

“Jesus Christ,” Philip laughs, dipping his head into his hand. 

“Look, we’re back,” Lukas says, nudging close to Philip.

Philip looks back up and the shot is different—they’re sitting on a pew with Lukas’s arm around Philip’s shoulders, the two of them talking close to each other’s faces and exchanging what looks like really messy kisses that keep ending in laughter. 

“Are they playing…”

And Philip hears it then, too. It sounds like it’s coming from a grainy radio somewhere in the chapel— _you’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you, you’d be like heaven to touch…_

“I wonder if you told—”

_“I TOLD THEM TO PLAY THIS!”_ Lukas on the screen yelled, right into Philip’s face.

It goes on like that for a couple minutes, and he sees Bill showing them a paper with a bunch of different wedding bands on it, another couple getting ready near the back of the chapel. Philip wonders how long they hung around, when they first saw Samson, how the hell they wound up adopting him. 

He looks at their hands now. Their hands in the video. The stupid ring pops, sitting on the counter now like some beautiful sugary reminder. He feels like he’s hot and cold at the same time, because now he’s in After. They’re in it together. 

He laughs a little bit but it comes out more like a sob, and Lukas immediately directs his attention to him, despite the fact that the video is still playing.

“What is it?” Lukas asks, cupping Philip’s cheek. “Philip, what’s wrong?”

Philip looks at him. He loves every inch of Lukas’s face. _His husband._ “Lukas,” he says. “We’re—we’re married. We literally got married.”

Lukas stares at him, the realization dawning in his eyes. He laughs, a smile spreading across his face and he laughs again, more incredulous this time. He looks down at their hands in Philip’s lap and shakes his head, breathing hard through his mouth. He looks up and he seems worried, the happiness still clear there but something else clouding it. “Are—” he says, his voice breaking, going high-pitched. He clears his throat and averts his gaze, staring down at their hands again. “Are you—happy?”

Philip’s the one staring now, his mouth dry. He can’t believe him. He reaches out with his free hand and cups Lukas’s cheek, tipping his face back up. Lukas’s eyes are red and there’s an insecurity there that hasn’t shown itself in a while. “Of course, baby,” Philip whispers. “Of course, God, I’ve—I wanted—there’s nothing—” All his thoughts are coming out at once and he sighs, the both of them laughing a little bit. Philip presses their foreheads together, and he closes his eyes. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“You’re happy you’re spending the rest of your life with me?” Lukas asks.

Philip laughs again, and a tear falls before he can stop it. “Yes, yes. There’s no one else. I wanna wake up to your face every day.”

“Even after snoring?” Lukas asks, and he sounds like he’s crying now too.

“Always after snoring,” Philip says. 

Lukas looks up, his eyes wide, and Philip meets his gaze. “But we’re still gonna have a wedding right?”

Philip chews on his lower lip and nods at him. “This is gonna be—our secret. We won’t tell any of them. Well, maybe Gabe.”

“You think he could keep it from Helen?” Lukas asks.

“Probably,” Philip says. “It’ll raise his spirits, and probably make him a little less nervous about marrying us, considering we’re already married.”

“Yeah,” Lukas says, the corner of his mouth twitching up again. “I love the idea of being secretly married. I’m gonna know all the time, in all the little moments. That we’re fucking married. We have papers and everything. I’m gonna know every time I see a ring pop.”

Philip grins and shakes his head. He likes it too. He’s glad they have a video. It sorta makes the entire actual wedding less scary and intimidating. They got the legal part taken care of. Now they just have the party and the ceremony for their family and friends. “We’re married,” he whispers, like it’s the biggest and best secret he’s ever had. 

“We’re fucking married, Philip.”

“And we didn’t do something stupid like choose one of our last names for both of us,” Philip says, laughing. 

“Thank God,” Lukas says, looking so beautiful and vibrant that Philip is nearly knocked the fuck out. “I feel like we would have absolutely regretted that either way.”

“Woulda had to officially change it anyway,” Philip says, beaming at him.

Lukas stares. He seems a lot calmer now, his eyelids lowered, his gaze fixed on Philip’s mouth. Philip rubs his thumb back and forth along Lukas’s neck, feels something stirring in the pit of his stomach. “Married,” Lukas says, low. “We’re married. You married me.”

“I married you.”

Lukas is looking at him like he’s the eighth wonder of the world again and Philip can’t help it, can’t help but move in and kiss him. Nothing else in the world matters, not secrets, not money, not school or his portfolio or graduation. Not all the dumb shit they probably did, or actually did, or are going to do in the coming days, months, years of their lives together. None of it matters. Philip extracts his hand from Lukas’s so he can wrap his arms around Lukas’s neck—his head is spinning, that dizzying feeling that comes over him when they’re kissing draping itself around him.

The kisses get deeper and after a few velvet moments Lukas pulls Philip into his lap, leaning back against the couch. Philip can still feel the fireburn marks all over his body from whatever the hell they did last night after their wedding, and he can see them on Lukas too, scattered along his neck, paired in threes when he pulls Lukas’s collar down and puts his mouth there again. He loves staking his claim. Leaving his marks behind. They both do.

Lukas sucks in a breath, arching his neck back and tilting his head to the side to give Philip better access. Philip drags wet kisses up to Lukas’s jawline, lightly biting his ear.

“Fuck,” Lukas hisses, reaching around and squeezing Philip’s ass through his jeans. 

Philip pushes down against him, rolling back and forth a little bit. He twists Lukas’s hair in his hands and blows out a breath, frustration and need and want all rolling around in the core of his chest. He pulls back, leans in, and captures Lukas’s mouth again. 

Philip loves the taste of him. The way he moans softly against his lips, how their tongues move against each other. Lukas’s fingers tease around Philip’s waistband, pressing into the dimples at the small of his back. “Is the dog asleep?” Philip asks.

Lukas laughs, a little husky and breathless now, nipping at Philip’s bottom lip. “Another dog for us to worry about,” he says. He pulls Philip in so their chests are pressing together, sinking his fingers as far as he can into Philip’s pants. “He’s sleeping,” Lukas whispers, pressing a kiss to Philip’s shoulder through the material of his shirt. “His little legs are stretched out behind him. So cute. No wonder we couldn’t resist. Izzy is gonna love her little brother.”

Philip laughs a little bit, still messing up Lukas’s hair absentmindedly. Before he knows it Lukas is grabbing him, getting a good hold on him and picking him up. Lukas gets to his feet easily, like Philip weighs nothing, and Philip never really told Lukas how much this turns him on every time he does it. He wraps his legs around his waist and holds on as Lukas walks over to the bedroom, sunlight bleeding through the window and their partially shut shades. 

“Did we lock the door?” Philip asks, pressing long kisses to Lukas’s cheek.

“Yes,” Lukas says, moving swiftly down the hall, turning around and opening the bedroom door with his back. 

Philip knows they’re both getting overwhelmed, knows it even more when they fall onto the bed and meet in a crushing kiss. He hates when they get like this and the lube is so fucking far away, that they have to stop and fucking fish through their bags to retrieve it, but for now he vibrates under the shocks Lukas is sending through his pelvis every time he grinds down against him. They make out until he’s lightheaded, until his core and focus and only touchstone in the whole damn universe is Lukas, everywhere, all around him.

“Philip,” Lukas whispers, smearing kisses up and down his cheek, all over his face. “Philip.”

“Lukas,” Philip answers, his eyelids fluttering closed as he reaches around, clawing at Lukas’s lower back.

“We got married in a Vegas chapel,” Lukas whispers into Philip’s ear. “We got so drunk and we literally couldn’t keep ourselves from getting married when presented with the opportunity.”

Philip smiles, electricity shooting through his veins. He turns and presses his cheek against Lukas’s, the slow rocking of their bodies sending him into a daze. “You know,” Philip rasps, “when I really think about it, I’m not too surprised.”

Lukas laughs a little bit, drawing his nose along Philip’s temple. “Me either,” he says. “Shit, we probably would have done it sober.”

“I’ve wanted to marry you for so fucking long,” Lukas says, placing delicate kisses on Philip’s lips. “Longer than I really know. Since before. Way before.”

He doesn’t specify what before means, just starts pushing at Philip’s shirt until they work together to take it off, but Philip knows what he means. Knows, as they undress each other, that Lukas wore an armor so thick that he’d lost his own self underneath it, buried all his real thoughts and emotions under layers and layers, so deep that they only sounded like faint echoes in the blaring anger of his life. Philip dug deep, stuck around, let his own love (such a heady, exhilarating feeling, despite everything) soothe Lukas’s ailing soul. And he chipped away at that armor, iron and steel, putting his hands all over the exposed spots. He’d drawn Lukas out until he could see all of him. And finally, Lukas had wanted him to.

Once they’re naked Philip flips them around so he’s on top, flattening himself out and kissing down Lukas’s chest. His mind short-circuits when he remembers the belly button ring and he doesn’t waste any damn time paying very special attention to it, licking a circle around Lukas’s belly button and wringing a broken moan out of him.

“I bet you fuckin’ encouraged that,” Lukas says, his hands in Philip’s hair.

“Bet I fuckin’ did,” Philip says, licking around it again, metal on his tongue. He scoots up a little bit more and sucks a couple hickeys onto Lukas’s chest, flicking his tongue over Lukas’s nipple and drawing out all these gorgeous little noises. Fuck, Philip can’t deal with him. 

Lukas coaxes him back up and they kiss some more, both so hard that every bit of friction is like ecstasy. Lukas groans when Philip can’t wait anymore, pulling off to move swiftly over to the edge of the bed, quickly yanking the lube out of his shower bag. He drops it into the sheets and Lukas pulls him back on top of him, tangling their legs together. 

Philip is breathing hard through his nose, his whole body on fire, and Lukas breaks the kiss, sucking on Philip’s earlobe. “Turn over,” he whispers. 

Philip pants, placing an absent-minded kiss on Lukas’s cheek. “Like how do you mean?” he asks, kissing him again.

“Like stay on top of me, ‘cept like back to front,” Lukas says, softly. 

Philip looks at him, a smile tugging at his mouth again. “You wanna do it like that?”

Lukas breathes hot against Philip’s lips, his brows knitting together. “Wanna make it the best for you, babe,” he says. “You married me, I gotta—I gotta make it good. Do you wanna?”

Philip laughs, kissing him again, a new streak of want surging through him at the new position idea. “Yes,” he whispers. They’ve never tried it that way before. Half the time they don’t even wind up going all the way because they get so fucking caught up in each other, and lately things, while still incredible, have become pretty routine. 

Lukas shifts a little closer to the pillows and Philip turns over, strangely worried for a second that he’ll be heavier on his back than on his stomach. But when he settles down Lukas immediately sighs in what sounds like relief, his cock sliding along Philip’s ass. Philip moans, excitement prickling at his skin. “Fuck, Lukas.”

“God, baby,” Lukas whispers, running his hands up and down Philip’s chest. “Baby, baby.”

Philip writhes a little bit and it feels so good, moving on top of Lukas like this. They both lose themselves for a moment and he almost feels like he’s gonna blow, almost, almost, until Lukas breathes “raise up a little” into his ear, and Philip does, planting his feet on the bed alongside Lukas’s. 

He takes his time getting Philip ready, like always, pumping his fingers in and out of him slowly and surely, and before long Philip is begging for him to stop, the world spinning, his balance off. Lukas wipes his hand on the sheet and Philip stays raised up a little bit, his legs shaking. Lukas keeps one arm wrapped around Philip’s chest, the other grabbing onto his hip as he pushes inside him.

The angle is fucking insane and Philip gasps, arching his neck back over Lukas’s shoulder and seeing stars. Lukas goes slow, inching along and pulling Philip to him until he’s all the way inside, the two of them flush together. Goosebumps are cropping up all over Philip’s body and he feels so exposed and yet so fucking protected, Lukas wrapping him up in a tight embrace. 

“You okay?” Lukas asks, close to Philip’s ear. He kisses his cheek and nudges him with his nose, and Philip realizes he’s making little gasping, whining sounds. “Baby, you okay?”

“Yes,” Philip says. “Yes, yes.” He’s not gonna fucking last.

“I’ve got you,” Lukas whispers. “I’ve got you.”

“Please move,” Philip begs. He reaches out with one arm and twists the comforter in his grasp.

Lukas nods, kissing him again. He thrusts up once and Philip sees stars again, sucking in a big breath, and Lukas moves up into him again before he can even process what the hell is happening and why it feels like fireworks, like every bit of pleasure he’s ever known is blooming up all over him. He groans something guttural, reaching back and nearly elbowing Lukas in the face trying to grab for his hair. Philip tries to mutter out an apology but Lukas doesn’t seem to have noticed, setting a pace that’s tearing Philip apart at the seams. 

Lukas feels deeper than Philip has ever felt him before and sweat is breaking out all over his body, his cock leaking and throbbing. He can’t think straight, wants to touch himself but can’t let go of the comforter, can’t stop clawing at Lukas’s cheek. 

“Philip,” Lukas groans. “Fuck, you feel so good. So, so good.”

Philip can only moan, gasping, his chest heaving against Lukas’s forearms. Being embraced like this is driving him insane. He grinds down against him, and Lukas’s fingers start roaming. His right hand comes up, sliding up and down Philip’s throat, over his chin, his thumb tracking over Philip’s open mouth, rolling along his bottom lip. His left hand slips down, deft fingers wrapping around Philip’s dick and stripping him in time with his thrusts. They’re getting sloppier now but somehow deeper, deeper and Philip can hardly breathe, all rational thought left in the dust. 

“Ah, ah—oh—”

“Philip,” Lukas moans, and Philip is trembling, can feel Lukas shaking too, his palm flat against Philip’s collar bone. Philip’s legs are struck with cramps and one slides out from under him, making Lukas’s next thrust that much deeper. Lukas is touching him all over, he’s surrounding him, inside him, consuming him. He’s never felt like this. So full, so complete, a fiery, sweaty, mess of a person so utterly engrossed and devoured. 

_Lukas, Lukas, Lukas._

_My husband._

The sound goes pinched, silent, and Philip’s vision goes black, and he can’t hear himself but he knows he’s making some ridiculous fucking noise, his whole body convulsing. Lukas’s amazing arms. His lips crushed to Philip’s cheek. One leg tossed over Philip’s own, the one that collapsed moments ago. That tell-tale stickiness and warmth, both their bodies arching up under Lukas’s orgasm and final stuttering thrusts. 

They crash down to the bed again and Philip’s whole mind is Lukas. He’s wrapped up in Lukas. Everywhere, all over, everything, all of him. His eyes are still closed and his body is spent and he feels like jello. Lukas is still inside him and Philip never wants to move. He doesn’t know if he fucking can move. He’s never, ever felt this good. 

“Baby,” Lukas says, rubbing his chest. “Philip.”

He sounds like an angel. An angel in a long tunnel. 

Lukas laughs a little bit. “Philip, you okay?”

Does he still even know the English language?

Lukas takes Philip by the hips and pulls out, letting him flop back down on top of him again. Philip feels the little circle of cold steel in Lukas’s belly button and almost gets hard again. 

“Hey,” Lukas says, brushing Philip’s hair back from his sweaty forehead, pressing a long kiss to his cheek. “Hey, you in there?”

Philip opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling. “Lukas.”

“Hey,” Lukas says, “there you are.”

“Let’s just—let’s—” and Lukas seems to read his mind, bodily moving him to the side, easing him down on the mattress. His thighs are sticky and they’re both disgusting, but he’s content to lay here until the end of time, no matter how much it costs them. He scoots forward into Lukas’s embrace, nuzzling into his neck. “Babe. Husband.”

Lukas laughs. 

“That was the best fucking sex I’ve ever had.”

Lukas’s face lights up and he runs his knuckles down Philip’s cheek. “Really?”

“Christ,” Philip says, closing his eyes again. “Yes. What happens in Vegas.”

“Results in amazing fucking sex,” Lukas says, sounding really, really proud of himself.

Well. He should be.

~

They hang out for the rest of the night, ordering in a couple pizzas to their room and watching movies in bed, trying to avoid their upcoming troubles and stop themselves from making new ones. They take some quality time in the hot tub, play with Samson, and decide to sleep in one of the other bedrooms for the hell of it. 

Philip wakes up early to walk Samson, his legs still nearly useless, a good sort of ache all over his body. He stretches, watching Lukas sleep with a sort of fondness that runs so deep he knows he’ll never see the end of it. 

He successfully avoids the front desk again, going out into the back courtyard, when he gets a text from Gabe. 

_I’m out of the house—Helen’s on a case and I’m doing some well needed walking around town. Got anything you wanna tell me?_

Philip stares at it as Samson hops around after a lizard, pulling on the leash. Philip clears his throat, and thinks this is probably a good time to tell him. He dials his number. 

“Hey son,” Gabe says, answering after the first ring. “You still doing good?”

“You have reason to think otherwise?” he asks, smiling a little bit. 

“Maybe,” Gabe says. “I mean, you two are in Vegas.”

“First of all, how are you?” Philip asks, staving this off for as long as he can.

“I’m good,” Gabe says, laughing. “Doing better. Interested in what you seem like you’re about to tell me.”

Philip sighs, looking at Samson. “Well, we adopted another dog,” he says. 

“Oh yeah?” Gabe asks, sounding surprised. 

“And we got married,” Philip mutters. 

There’s silence.

“You…you…”

“We got married,” Philip says, a little louder, watching a few girls run laughing down the sidewalk. “Right after the wedding job. We don’t remember shit, we—I guess we went to this hotel, won some money apparently, got really, blackout drunk and—got married.”

There’s more silence. 

“Wow,” Gabe says, finally. “Wow, I—wow, you did the Vegas thing.”

“We did the Vegas thing,” Philip says, nodding. “But we’re, uh—we’re good with it. But we don’t want—anybody else knowing. Especially Helen. We’re still gonna go along with the wedding plans like nothing happened and maybe tell people…down the line. We’re only gonna tell you for now, since you’re gonna be the one marrying us later.”

“Okay,” Gabe says. He laughs a little bit more. “Okay, I—I can keep this secret.”

“You think so?” Philip asks. 

“Yeah, I—yeah, I can do it. You’ll tell her after? After the, uh—wedding?”

“Yeah,” Philip says. “For sure. Like, as soon as we get back from the honeymoon.” Another thing they haven’t discussed. 

“Well, kid,” Gabe says. “I’m gonna pretend I never heard this. But hey. Congratulations. You married the love of your life. That’s something to be happy about, no matter how it happened.”

“Thanks,” Philip says, smiling to himself. “You’re really gonna enjoy the wedding video.”

“Oh, I’ve got no doubt.”

~

“Philip! Philip!”

Philip looks up at the sound of Lukas’s voice, and he rushes towards him in the kitchen. Lukas is standing there, with the fridge wide open, and when Philip approaches from behind he sees what he was looking at. 

There are three moderately high, strangely well-stacked piles of money in there. They both stare at them like it’s not actually there, and then Philip walks closer and picks one of them up. 

“They’re all hundreds,” he says, his heart speeding up as he flips through the bills. “What the fuck? This is—this—”

“I can’t,” Lukas says, going through the other two stacks. “Fifties and hundreds. We actually—we won—we won at the fucking—just like they said—oh my God.”

They both turn to each other at the same time and meet in a crushing kiss, still grasping the money in their hands. 

“In the fridge,” Philip laughs, against Lukas’s lips. “In the stupid, stupid fridge.”

“We’re so stupid,” Lukas says, grinning and kissing him again. 

“So, so stupid.”

~

“What a weird fucking couple of days,” Lukas says, dragging the suitcases and everything else beside them as they finally approach the front desk to check out.

“Yeah,” Philip says, adjusting Samson in his arms. He has four thousand dollars tucked into the outside compartment of his duffel bag, and he’s still freaked out by it. “At least we have that cash so we can put it all towards the room. Cover the rest with the credit card and we should be okay.”

“Yup,” Lukas says, grinning at the girl behind the counter. 

“Mr. Shea, Mr. Waldenbeck!” she says, happily. “How did you enjoy your stay?”

More people they don’t know who know them. Philip will never drink again.

“It was awesome,” Lukas says, nodding. “We’re all ready to settle up.”

She cocks her head at him, smiling awkwardly. “Settle up?”

“We wanna, uh—pay for our nights,” Philip says, his heart hammering faster. He’s not ready to hear how much this is. He’s not ready to let go of this money as quickly as they got it.

She shakes her head. “Uh—you’re all good!”

They stare at her. The world seems to still and go quiet.

“All good?” Philip asks, his brows furrowing. “Uh—how are we—sorry, uh—the night we checked in is, uh—a little blurry.”

She gets back to her typical cheery demeanor with that. “Oh. Yes, you two were drinking the cherry margaritas. Those tend to be…well…you two did have a very good time. You’re our wheel of fortune winners!”

“Wheel of fortune?” Lukas asks, confusion lacing his words. Philip is fucking confused too. Cherry margaritas sound familiar, though, and he can almost taste them as soon as he hears the words.

The girl points off towards the casino floor. They follow her hand and see a large elephant statue, next to it a large wheel kinda like the one from the game show. 

“Hey!” Lukas says. “The elephant!”

“You won two nights in our Mandarin Suite!” the girl says, nodding. “We had no bookings so we got you in immediately. It was very lucky. So I’m glad you enjoyed your stay.”

This whole thing has felt like an insane dream. They won the fucking room. They won it. They’re the luckiest idiots in the world. They got really drunk and could have gotten killed which is dumb as shit. But then Philip thinks of the remains of their ring pops stowed away in a plastic bag in their luggage. He wouldn’t change any of it. At all. Now they’re married. They have another dog. And they’re four thousand dollars richer. 

He can’t fucking believe it.

“Well thank you!” he says quickly, a little scared someone is gonna come out and tackle them. 

They say their goodbyes and turn, walking towards the exit. “Call the uber,” Philip says, a wave of shock running through him. He can’t believe they’re going back to their real life after all this insanity. 

“We can save that money for the second wedding now,” Lukas says, grinning wildly.

_Second wedding._

Samson licks Philip’s chin, and Lukas throws an arm around his shoulder, pressing a long kiss to his temple. “Holy shit,” he breathes. “What happens in Vegas, huh?”

Philip snorts, shaking his head and leaning into him. “Yeah,” he says, still dazed. “Yeah, what—what happens in Vegas.”

A thought pops into his head.

_Belly. Button. Pierced._

Philip smiles to himself, has to chew on his lower lip to keep himself from laughing. What happens in Vegas, alright.


End file.
